William lamb



WILLIAM LAMB, OF ROME, `NEW YORK.l y

WATER-WHEEL.

Specification of Letters Patent No, 5,230, dated August 7, 1847. i

To all 'whom t may concern:

lBe it known that I, WILLIAM LAMlfofI Rome, in the county of Oneida andState of New York, have invented a new andguseful Horizontal Water-Wheelwith a New Method of Introducing Water Thereto to Propel the Same; and Ido hereby declarethat the following is a 'full and accurate description;

thereof, viz: Y.

It consists in forming the wheel with two bevel rims the planes of whichare to standl QOAdegrees Vmore or less from the plane ofi the horizon,the upper one smaller in diame-g terl and narrower than the lower rimand parallel or nearly so to each other. Betweenk the rims curved floatsor buckets are firmly. attached thereto by their opposite ends. The?floats incline from a perpendicular position inward to correspond withthe rims and inveline forward 'so that the water may strike them withits greatest force, the lower endsj of the floats standing inward halfan inch,y more or less, from the curb hereafter men-I tioned. The rimsand buckets may be cast: whole and entire of metal, or in separate`parts, if too large to be cast whole, and their fastened together, ormay be ,formed of other; materials, and attached to arms from the:shaft, by bolts, screws or otherwise. To the outward periphery of thelarger rim a circular curb is firmly and closely attached,

forming part of the wheel and guiding the Water with a spiral descendingmotion1 This curb may be per-1 pendicular and of equal diameter fromtop. to bottom o r the upper part'may be larger or smaller than thebottom and two inches, more or less, higher than the water gates,

and made of wood or metal or both. The

water is conducted over the top and within the curb by one, two or moretrunks de' scending near it and within two inches, more' or less, fromthe upper rim, so as to bef guided to and strike the floats with itsgreatest force.

The lower end of each trunk has (what I call) a spout-nose formed ofiron or other substance cast whole or made in pieces and fastenedtogether; that part of which nose,

next lthe curb, forming the segment of a cir- I cle smaller than theinside of the curb and parallel therewith and a little distance there-,p

By the shape of the floats the. wat-er is discharged between them underthey wheel, with a motion inward and partly op-y posite to thecentrifugal force of the wheel.`

floats. Each `water-gate may be placed outside or within the nose ofeachtrunk,A to open at lts lower end and discharge against the floatsand side, of the curb a column of water o f'a thickness equal, at least,to the` distance between theleurb and upperrim.` The gates maybe made toadmita larger quantity of water within the wheel to propel it, whenunder back-Water,and to open so as toadmit a smaller quantity ofwaterwhen less'power is required. -1 The principle involvedirl/reconstructing this wheel with `a curb rising abovelthe water-gates(and guiding. the Lwater'so that from. Ther'nose-is contracted, at theoutlet, yso as to pas sfa column ofy water, .ofthe deslred thickness,within the rims, against the all of it operates `upon the wheel) andalso vthe curved 'trunk-nosesopening by gates very -near the floats(guiding the water` spirally parallel to and around the side of thecurb) I contemplate applying to other wheels, to which it may beapplicable. t

To enable mill-wrights and others skilled in the art, to make vand usemy wheel, with its: combinations, I annex three plates of drawingsnumbered l, 2 and 3 and will proceed further to describe theirconstruction and operation. l

Plate l comprises two figures is a perspective view of the wheel withitscurb g, shaft aarms'b, floats e. fFig.v 2 is a perspective view of thesame, with its appendages, p t-op of pentstock, r foundation of same andwheel, b cross timber'on which `the shaft stands, 7c fixture to holdupper end of Figufffi A,

aY i

shaft, Iz, z, upper surface of trunks, z', i side n of trunks, j side ofnose to short trunk, 0 v p Plate 2 comprises three figures.V Fig. 1

represents a thin section through the center 0f the wheel and curb withtwo arms of it fastened to the smallery rim bya screw,-bolt orotherwise,a, the shaft, 72, b arms and hub,

c, c, crosssections of the smallest rim, 0l, d, .v

cross sections of the large rim, g, g,- the 1' curb between which 'andthe upper rime the water passes and strikes the floats attached to eachrim. This figure shows ythe relative proportions and positions of theparts represented'as I have .constructed them for use.;` They may bevaried as the mill.-

Vsomewhat concave or dishing.`

wright may judge most useful, Fig. 2 being a View cfa curved floatdetached from the wheellas the. eye. sees itlooking.acros`s. its twoedges, and Fig. 3 shows the curvature of each end of'a float, andAthedistance of inclination of one end from the other is CuI'VeS.

more orlesson either edge, and may also i Plate 3 has ten figures. Fig.l, is a perspective viewwof the wheel and its'appen dages-seen from apoint directly above it,g` the top and'inside of thefcurb,*c the upperrim, d the lower rim, ethefloats, f dotted lines,`shows the" upper endoftwo floats, be-

neath the upper rim and their relative `posi` tion, b arms attached toupper rim; It, h

.upper surface of trunks, z', z', side of trunks,

lo `fixture to hold upper end of shaft, j, j,

side of nose to trunks, top of nose of long trunk, Z, lever to open andshut'gate in short trunk, fm, rod to'move gatein long trunk, n bottom offiume, p top of flume, r foundation of fiume and wheel. Fig. 2, innerview of side of short spout nextV the shaft, Z, side,` view of lever'moving on a pivot in the cen-Q ter'connected by pivot' to bar ,by pivotto gate s, to move it, u plate over which the@ gate slides on same sideof trunkat the nose with way 0 on the plate entering a groove on? `theflat side of thel gate to keepit in place when moving and thedottedlines shows the size of the opening in plate u, for the pas-5v .sage ofwater, v space for the passage ofv .water when the gate is'open, 0,curvature of `inside of trunk next the nose, a, @,timbers forming thecurvature.

shape and size of the opening in the short` trunkfor the passage `ofwater,V Fig. 3, inner view of side of long trunk neXt the1 shaft, m,`rod to moveV the closed gate s and connected to it by pivot, u platewith way 0, on which the gate slides, the ldotted line;l shows theopening for water. Fig. 9, shows the shape and sizefof long trunk forthepassage of water. Fig. 4, inner view of bottomof long trunk, a bottomplateof trunk nose extending to4 dotted line f, underA the plank e ofthe t-runk, b, lower edge ofv gateV which slides: on the plate `a,inA aplace cut out of bottom plank e, c iron staple (represented by Fig. 10)vinside `of gate passing through and fastened with nuts or otherwiseunder plate a, of trunk nose. Fig. 5 gate, Z2

thickness and shape of itsbottom edge and 7 `thickness and shape ofsection of gate from bottom-to top,.with a groove a, to run on way o inplates 2 and 3, d in Figs. 2and `3 the.

Fig. 8 shows the:

The passages i forV lthrough the trunks should'be three or four times aslarge as the openings for gates at their noses? The shape and size ofthe trunk Anose and its opening may differ somewhat -frointhe`above,but`fshould be so made and placed in such a position as topass an unbroken column 'of water smoothly in a `direction parallel tothe curb and `descending fto the" wheel 3 inches, more or less, tothefootrun. y. .1

Experience convinces me that, under a high ihead of water, the diameterof the wheelf'should be larger, the rims narrower, the space between thecurb and Aupper rim less, Vand the floats narrower uand the openming atthe nose smaller than when placed under a low head, and that the top of`the curb should be smaller in` proportion to the bottom than under `alowZhead-and further that under a lOfoot head the wheel should be .6%feet diameter, the curb33 bottom, the upper Vrim 9 inches e, the

lower rim 10 inches' wide, with 28 floats,

each 9 inches wide and 9 inches long, 2 gates, each to let out acolumnvof water 20 inches inV Lheight and 6 inches thick, `but thesesizes, proportions and numbers may be varied accordingto thejudgmentwand experience of the mill wright. Such a head and wheel arebelieved suflcient to drive two mill stones of 4; feet diameter.` forveach to grind at least `12 bushels wheat per hour. -When there are 2 ormore gates they should be equi-distant from veach other and made so toopen as toregulate the'quantity of water to the power required atdifferent times. l Y Y `When the penstockor ume is formedto take the'water from two or more sides ofthe wheel, the trunks and Vnoses areformed alike; but the drawings represent it as taken from one-sideonly,l by two' trunks,

the one shorter than the other, the nose of the long trunk projectingforwardA of the end and the nose of the short trunkforming Ithe curve atthe end o-f and under the trunk to conduct theu water to the `wheel inthe same direction as the other, with regard Ato motion. The noses areAalike except that theirlupper ends are made to fit the trunks.

The advantages ofI this invention con- "sist in cheapness ofconstruction combined and VtherebyV discharging the water within thecurb against the oatsan'd giving motion to the Wheel to drive anymachinery tosaveandgive direction- "to the Water,

connected With the shaft. and the form, and position of trunk noses, 10l What I claim as my invention, and deas hereinbefore fully described.sire to secure by Letters Patent is- The above described horizontalWater- WILLIAM LAMB' Wheel in combination With the method of Witnesses:introducing Water thereto, viz: by a curb WHEELER BARNES, connected withand forming part of a Wheel GEORGE BARNARD.

